


find me

by uwuxuxi



Series: deer queers [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Blood Pacts, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin & Huang Ren Jun Are Siblings, Fae & Fairies, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Magic, Nonbinary Character, Soul Bond, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:36:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27632171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uwuxuxi/pseuds/uwuxuxi
Summary: “you’re not a fox-” a small voice calls and renjun whirls around to face a boy around his age with soft brown antlers growing out of his reddish-brown hair. “...are you?” the boy asks, his head tilting to the side as he steps through the lavender bushes to stand in front of renjun. at this distance, renjun can see freckles under the sheen of rain on his cheeks—the very first word that comes to mind when he sees those doe eyes is pretty. the boy blinks twice. “you think i’m pretty?”
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Jung Sungchan
Series: deer queers [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2020379
Comments: 15
Kudos: 156
Collections: Challenge #3 — soulmates





	find me

**Author's Note:**

> so, much to note! kpop's chinalines past and present will make appearances in this fic and its sequel, they are all apart of one large coven! sicheng & minghao are nonbinary and use they/them pronouns. the blood pact _is_ between the two child characters, renjun & sungchan, but it is very quick and not too graphic. please enjoy my little babies i love them dearly.

_find me._

renjun stomps out of the coven house in his bright red rain boots, fox-eared raincoat, and the biggest pout of his young life as the rain pours in unrelenting drops around him. he can hear sicheng shout for him not to go too far into the forest, but he’s _mad_ at sicheng. if sicheng wants renjun to listen to them, then they should have let renjun have the last lavender-lemon cookie. it was very simple math!

the grass squelches under his boots and renjun rubs his nose as he follows this favorite path through the forest. it’s lined with lavender stalks and renjun likes to pluck the prettiest branches to bring home to kun as he listens to the natural song of the forest. the rain makes the lavender too soggy, though, so renjun pouts at the plants as if they have personally offended him —yet suddenly he feels eyes burning holes in the back of his head. 

“you’re not a fox-” a small voice calls and renjun whirls around to face a boy around his age with soft brown antlers growing out of his reddish-brown hair. “...are you?” the boy asks, his head tilting to the side as he steps through the lavender bushes to stand in front of renjun. at this distance, renjun can see freckles under the sheen of rain on his cheeks—the very first word that comes to mind when he sees those doe eyes is _pretty_. the boy blinks twice. “you think i’m pretty?”

“i didn’t say that out loud!” renjun gasps, bouncing up and down in the little puddle under his boots. “can you read minds?”

the boy shakes his head slowly and his brow furrows in concentration. _i think you’re pretty, too._ renjun’s lips part in surprise and his bouncing becomes more enthusiastic. 

“i heard that! but, no, i’m not a fox! apparently, my familiar is supposed to be a fox?” renjun shrugs, holding his hand out to the antlered boy in front of him. “dunno, i don’t listen to my sibling all the time.”

“i don’t listen to my brother all the time.” the boy agrees, nodding his head as he takes renjun’s hand. his hand is wet, much like renjun’s own, but it’s warm and renjun happily lets the boy lead him down the familiar path. “so if you have a familiar, does that mean you’re a witch?”

“you have antlers, are you a faerie?” renjun asks, swinging their hands together absently. “but yes, i am! i can’t do spells and stuff yet because i’m too young-” renjun sticks his tongue out in displeasure and the boy giggles happily. “but i am a witch and i can make flowers open and close!”

“i don’t think i’m a faerie.” the boy answers renjun’s question slow and unsure and turns to look at him before his brow furrows again. _i think i’m just a deer spirit? that’s what my older brother says._

renjun nods his head slowly in understanding as the deer boy ducks his head to avoid getting his antlers caught in a low hanging branch. he’s got velvety ears that stick out from his hair and renjun so badly wishes to touch them..

 _hey_ , he asks, careful not to trip in the slick mud, _what’s your name?_

 _i’m sungchan,_ he answers and tightens his hold on renjun’s hand when his boot slips a little over a slick rock. he’s stronger than renjun expects but he’s grateful for it. _and you’re renjun?_

 _mhm!_ renjun beams up at him. _do you want to be my friend, sungchan?_

there are stars in sungchan’s pretty eyes, and renjun is absolutely enchanted by them. “i would love to be your friend!” 

“even my best friend?” renjun chirps, then giggles happily as sungchan bobs his head with a fierce certainty. “good!”

they lapse into a comfortable silence before sungchan guides renjun to a tree that _has_ to be bigger than the coven house, and carefully ducks into the hole to shield them both from the cold rain. it’s nice and renjun immediately plops his butt down on the soft furs tucked against the wall. it’s so _warm_ for it to be tucked inside of a tree and renjun is happy to get out of the cold— and even happier as sungchan plops down beside him. “i want to be best friends forever!” renjun says with all of the conviction of a child under the age of ten but sungchan isn’t going to contradict him. 

all sungchan knows is that he’s made a friend in the rainy woods whose mind he can understand without spoken words—whose hand fits _perfectly_ in his own. sungchan wants to be friends with renjun forever too, he thinks as renjun rests his head on his shoulder and plays with his fingers. _is there a way we can do that?_ he asks softly, shifting down a little so renjun would be more comfortable on his shoulder. _a spell, maybe?_

renjun considers the spellbooks he’d started to read whenever kun and sicheng weren’t looking. he thinks about the section on bonding spells that he’d read a few days ago, most were complicated and beyond any magic renjun’s little eight-year-old body was capable of but he remembers one of them very clearly. _do you have a knife?_ he asks, pressing the flat of his hand against sungchan’s own. _and something to tie our hands together with._

sungchan purses his lips in thought before he gets up to go poke around in some of the furs on the other side of the tree trunk. it’s a lot cleaner than the side that renjun is sitting on so he assumes that’s where sungchan’s brother sleeps. _do we need a particular kind of knife? there’s a crystal one here._ he doesn’t hold it up, simply transfers his vision of it to renjun and gets a happy hum in approval. sungchan sets the knife aside and digs around some more before finding a long piece of red string and making a small victorious sound. he crawls back over to renjun and sits across from him, quietly offering the knife to renjun so he can take the lead on this because sungchan has _no_ idea what he’s doing.

he just trusts renjun and wants them to be best friends forever.

renjun sits up on his knees and takes a soft breath, holding the knife steadily in his right hand. it’s heavy and a little intimidating but renjun is nothing if not extremely determined, so he takes another breath and raises the knife. _repeat after me when it’s your time to cut_ , he says, holding sungchan’s gaze. sungchan nods firmly and holds renjun’s hand on both of his palms in quiet support. _with this cut, i make a pledge_. renjun winces as the sharp crystal blade cuts a line onto his palm, the blood welling up quickly before he offers the blade to sungchan. 

_with this cut, i make a pledge_. sungchan repeats as he cuts his right hand, biting his lip hard to swallow his cry of pain. 

_to be tied to you and share my power whenever you require,_ renjun presses their bleeding palms together and marvels at the soft purple glow that surrounds their hands as the cuts meet.

 _to be tied to you and share my power whenever you require._ sungchan takes the string and helps renjun tie their hands together and bind the magic between them. it doesn’t hurt as much as sungchan expected it to, mostly tingles as the magic heals the cuts between their hands and seals twin red bands on both of their wrists.

“is it done?” sungchan whispers as the glow fades away and the string that had been tying their hands together disappears. he doesn’t pull his hand away, too afraid to disrupt the moment, but he feels warm and strong. 

“mhm.” renjun whispers back and slowly pulls his hand away from sungchan’s to check their palms. the line of the cut is still there and is still a bloody red but it doesn’t hurt or sting anymore. “best friends forever!” he announces once he realizes their success and he giggles happily as sungchan pulls him into a hug.

renjun _told_ sicheng that he could do harder magic! that’ll show them!

 _the rain has stopped,_ sungchan leans back on his hand to look out from the gap of the tree, lips quirked down in a frown. _does that mean you should go home?_

it does and renjun frowns himself, arms crossing tightly over his chest. he’s still a _little_ upset with sicheng but he knows that he _should_ go home and take a warm bath to get the cold rain off of his skin. _it does… will you walk me back?_

sungchan nods and holds his right hand out for renjun’s left one, helping the older boy up and out of the little den within the tree. the rain had stopped for the time being but renjun can tell from the swollen clouds that they only have a short amount of time before the clouds open up again with a thunderstorm.

renjun would _very_ much like to be inside by the time that thunder started to boom in the sky.

they walk back on the path in comfortable silence and share little facts about their lives with each other. sungchan lives with his older brother haechan and their eldest brother youngho, and they are all to his knowledge, deer spirits. renjun’s coven is much larger, led by yifan and luhan, with the rest of their extended family falling in line. renjun explains firmly that sicheng is his only sibling and while sicheng is _great_ , sometimes they can be mean.

(renjun really wanted those cookies, okay?)

sungchan stops at the edge of the forest, still holding tightly to renjun’s hand as he peers through the trees to see the coven house. sicheng and a much taller man— _yifan—_ renjun’s memories fill in easily, stand on the patio waiting for renjun’s return and sungchan can feel the small kernel of guilt growing in renjun’s stomach. _they won’t be upset. you’re home now! and we’ll see each other soon!_

 _you promise?_ renjun pouts at sungchan and holds his pinky out, blinking until sungchan slowly links their pinkies together. _that’s a pinky promise. i think it’s more important than the spell._

sungchan laughs softly and slowly let go of renjun’s hand. _if you say so!_

renjun runs out of the forest with a soft giggle. he runs all the way to the house, stopping in front of the stairs at sicheng’s relieved sigh of his name and a fond head shake from yifan. he lets the elder witch scoop him up and hand him to his sibling after kissing his forehead. 

“you didn’t bring any lavender home.” sicheng says, shifting renjun up on their hip and gently pushing his hood off of his head. 

“it was _soggy._ i didn’t want to carry it!” renjun rolls his eyes and hugs his sibling around the shoulders as he’s carried inside. the scent of kun’s freshly baked lavender-lemon cookies greets them and renjun thinks he should run away more often if it gets him what he wants. he’s reaching for the tray when yifan starts and curls his fingers around renjun’s tiny wrist, bringing it up to the chandelier hanging over the kitchen island. it doesn’t hurt, but renjun is _hungry_ and a little annoyed. “gege, i want a cookie!”

yifan ignores him but junhui, ever willing to indulge renjun, sneaks a cookie into the boy’s other hand. “that’s a binding spell,” yifan says slowly, flipping renjun’s hand over to look at the healed cut on his palm. he sounds equally impressed and horrified. “a _soul_ binding spell.”

while the room stares at renjun’s hand in shock, he simply chews on his cookie. “yeah, i did it in the woods!”

“ _what_.” yifan leans back to look renjun in the eye, brows raised so high that renjun worries that they’re going to vanish into his hairline. “ _you_ did a binding spell yourself in the woods?”

“duh.” renjun says as he finishes off the cookie and is handed another one by junhui, who looks incredibly impressed but also like he’s trying not to laugh. “that’s what i _said_!”

“with _whom_?”

“a boy named sungchan. he has pretty eyes and antlers and we’re going to be best friends forever now!” renjun explains very slowly so all of the adults looking at him like they don’t understand finally get it. “we also pinky promised. so it’s _double_ secure.”

“why didn’t you pinky promise _first,_ renjun?” kun whispers, sitting down hard in a chair with his hands covering his mouth. renjun doesn’t know why they’re all so surprised. he _told_ them he could do big boy magic! they should, be proud of him!

“where did you learn the binding spell in the _first_ place?”

“oh my gods, he’s bound to a _nature spirit_.”

“channy is a deer spirit!” renjun corrects happily to a chorus of groans. “and i could hear his voice in my head before i even _did_ the spell.”

that silences the room quickly and when renjun reaches for another cookie, junhui’s hand is too limp to give it to him. sicheng seems to notice his distress and hands him one instead, their face contemplative. 

“junjun.” they start slowly, gently bouncing him on their hip. “you could hear each other even before the spell?” renjun bobs his head slowly. “okay, so, what does that mean?” sometimes renjun forgets that sicheng isn’t an _adult-_ adult like yifan or luhan and doesn’t know everything.

“they were already soul bound at birth. it’s...rare, but it happens,” yifan says slowly, leaning against the table thoughtfully. “i suppose we’re going to have the little deer’s family on our doorstep tomorrow asking the same questions we are.”

“but we have no answers for them.” minghao says, swirling their finger in a figure-eight over their coffee cup to stir in the sugar. “‘sorry our eight-year-old is a magical prodigy and is soulmates with your...deer? faun?’ whatever.”

“he might be a stag.”

renjun whispers something in sicheng’s ear and finishes off his cookie.

“renjun says he got the spell from minghao’s notes.” they smile sweetly and kiss renjun on the cheek. “and that he’s very sleepy so i’m going to go take a nap with him.” the conversation ends there, with renjun dozing off contently against his sibling’s shoulder. sungchan’s laughter echoes in renjun’s head.

he’s not _quite_ sure what a soulmate is, but it sounds like he and sungchan are going to be together forever, which is exactly what renjun wants.

_somebody to love._

“renjun.” minghao calls ten years later, still stirring figure-eights into their coffee, “your deer is here!”

“i’m a stag.” sungchan corrects as he turns sideways to come into the front door before righting himself. “good evening, minghao.”

“is it?” sungchan does not press them further.

renjun comes down the stairs with a swish of his duster jacket as he pulls it over his shoulders, and sungchan feels the old scar on his palm pulse at how pretty renjun looks with his antlers. they’re much smaller than sungchan’s own and a faint pink but they belong where they are, all nestled into renjun’s lavender tinted hair. 

“he’s a stag, minghao.” renjun adds to a dismissive wave of minghao’s hand and rolls his eyes fondly before he hops the last steps to take sungchan’s right hand in his left to feel the _zing_ of electricity dance down their spines. it’s a habit that he’s had ever since they were children and sungchan is not going to make him stop it now that they’re dancing on the cusp of adulthood. “don’t wait up!”

“i never do.” minghao lies, tilting their head back to get a kiss on the cheek. they tell them to have fun and laugh in delight when sungchan has to turn sideways _again_ to get out of the house. 

renjun doesn’t giggle but the smile on his face speaks volumes to his feelings on the matter. it’s entertained him since sungchan hit his growth spurt at sixteen and his antlers stretched wider than his shoulders—sungchan is certain that renjun will never stop being entertained by the way sungchan has to twist in order to move in and out of rooms. there’s definitely a spell that he can do so the doorway extends, but sungchan’s not going to get his hopes up. 

_are you still down for the drive-in movie?_ renjun leans his head against sungchan’s shoulder, linking their fingers together as they walk to renjun’s convertible. the top is already down so sungchan doesn’t stab his way through the car and he’s quietly grateful. _jeno and jaemin will be there._

 _aren’t jeno and jaemin everywhere?_ sungchan asks as he gets into the car, leaning over to open renjun’s door from the inside. _what’s the movie?_

renjun checks his phone as he settles down in the car, squinting a little. “ _twilight_. i’m very much prepared to heckle.”

sungchan snorts and gives renjun a thumbs up. _let’s do it. i have no idea how bad this movie is but i am prepared to laugh._

 _you should be_. renjun grins at him and starts the car, pulling off in a loud screech of tires against the gravel in the driveway. the red lines on his left wrist are more detailed now from their bond and sungchan is a _little_ grumpy that he can’t reach over and brush his fingers over the flower that bloomed on the inside of renjun’s wrist. _you’re staring at it._ renjun says as he reaches over to turn the bluetooth on and let his music play on low.

_i always stare at it. the flower is new._

_maybe it’s because i love you._ renjun is flippant but sungchan smiles wide, eyes sparkling in the golden hour light.

_maybe. i love you too, you know._

_oh, i know._


End file.
